India 'fully ready' to add to fleet 2nd submarine with nuclear-tipped missiles

NEW DELHI: India is now all set to commission its second nuclear-powered submarine armed with nuclear missiles for strategic deterrence, while the project to build two nuclear-powered attack submarines with conventional weapons is also headed for final approval amid China’s fast-expanding naval footprint in the Indian Ocean Region.
The 6,000-tonne INS Arighat, constructed at the ship-building centre (SBC) at Vizag, is “fully ready” for formal commissioning after extensive trials that saw some technical issues being ironed out with upgrades over an extended period.
“The SSBN (naval parlance for nuclear-propelled submarines with nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles) will be commissioned within a month or two. She will then join her sister INS Arihant, which became fully operational in 2018,” a source told TOI.
Parallelly, on the conventional (non-nuclear) warfare front, the around Rs 40,000 crore project to indigenously construct two nuclear-powered submarines, armed with torpedoes, anti-ship and land-attack missiles, is now before the PM-led Cabinet Committee on Security for the final nod after repeated iterations and inter-ministerial consultations, another source said.
The initial case was for six such 6,000-tonne `hunter-killer’ submarines (called SSNs) under `Project-77’ at the SBC. But it was first whittled down to three and now stands at two vessels. It will take at least a decade to build the first two SSNs, which will be around 95% indigenous, while the next four will be approved at a later stage, the source said.
As per long-standing approved plans, India requires at least 18 diesel-electric submarines, four SSBNs and six SSNs to tackle the twin-threat from China and Pakistan, which is also turning collusive in the maritime domain after the land borders.
The country, however, currently has only one SSBN in INS Arihant, which is propelled by an 83 MW pressurized light-water reactor at its core, and 16 diesel-electric submarines. Moreover, the conventional underwater combat fleet consists of six old Russian Kilo-class and four German HDW submarines, apart from six new French-origin Scorpenes.
China, in contrast, already has 60 submarines, and is fast building more. Its fleet includes six Jin-class SSBNs, armed with JL-3 missiles that have a strike range of 10,000 km, and six SSNs.
INS Arighat will to a certain extent strengthen India’s weakest leg of the nuclear triad, or the capability to fire nukes from land, air and sea. The land and air vectors, with the Agni ballistic missiles and fighters with nuclear gravity bombs, are relatively more robust.
While INS Arighat will also be armed with 750-km range K-15 missiles like INS Arihant, she can carry a larger number of them. The real teeth will come when the third SSBN, the slightly larger 7,000-tonne INS Aridhaman with 3,500-km range K-4 missiles, is commissioned next year.
The fourth SSBN, which will be able to carry more K-4 missiles, is also being constructed under the secretive Rs 90,000 crore advanced technology vessel (ATV) project launched decades ago. There is also the plan to eventually build 13,500-tonne SSBNs with much more powerful 190 MW reactors.
Bigger SSBNs with longer-range missiles will give India’s deterrence posture greater credibility because they are the most secure and survivable platforms for assured retaliatory strikes after a first-strike by an adversary.
The SSNs, in turn, are critical because they can discreetly operate at high speeds for long distances while remaining submerged for extended periods to take out enemy targets unlike diesel-electric submarines that have to surface or “snorkel” every few days to get oxygen to recharge their batteries.
Till the indigenous SSNs roll out, India is slated to get an advanced Akula-class SSN on lease from Russia in 2026 under the $3 billion deal inked in Mar 2019, as reported by TOI earlier.